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SEASON 2015/16, PLAYERS’ ANALYSIS – KEEPERS

20 May 2016Two injuries forced the club to have four goalkeepers during the season, Lux and Manu left big doubts, while Pletikosa only played twice.

It was a strange season for Deportivo’s keepers. The club had four goalies and was not even enough as, at times, the coach had to pick David Gómez or Anxo Pérez from Fabril in order to fill up the gap on the bench or at the stands (Víctor likes to pick three goalies for the away games). It cannot be said that their performance was catastrophic, but neither was good enough to convince the public opinion.

German Lux -Doubtful- (2,557 minutes on the season). Fabricio was going to be the starter at the goal after his performance during last season. So, Lux knew he was going to repeat his role of second goalie. But that figure drastically changed after the last friendly of the pre-season with the Canarian sustaining a serious knee injury that was going to sideline him for the full campaign.

It cannot be said that Lux had a bad season, the Argentine played in 29 of the 38 league matchdays and made 73 saves, but in several games the public had the impression that it was too easy to score against him, especially in the second round in the league. He was sent off at the last minute of the home game with Granada CF (Feb 28), then he played four more games until picking a knee injury in the derby with RC Celta that left him out of action for the rest of the season.
RCDLC.com rating: 6.5

Manu -Insecure- (682). Manu Fernández arrived at the end of the summer in order to be the third keeper at the team and his role changed throughout the campaign without doing the merits to deserve it. He began the league as the second goalie with Fabricio suffering an injury, so he played in Copa in the first part of the season. Suddenly, he was competing with Pletikosa for the starring role after Lux also got injured.

If there were doubts with Lux before then these worries were increased with Manu at the goal. He made 15 saves and allowed 17 goals in 8 games. The weird thing is that for 9 years the Asturian was unable to win a game at the elite, and it was until the visit to Villarreal CF (May 8) that he was able to win a game, and Manu did it making his best game at the club. Truly his performance wasn’t great, but it must be also remained that his arrival to the starring role coincided with the blackest moment of Depor.
RCDLC.com rating: 6.0

Stipe Pletikosa -Fourth- (180) It’s weird to have a fourth goalkeeper in a Primera team, stranger is to see him having minutes. This veteran goalie arrived for the winter window when it was clear that Fabricio wasn’t going to be recovered. He was supposed to be the third goalie, but the injury of Lux pushed him to be a substitute and even to play twice with the team.

Like the case with Manu, he played when things were already twisted. The Croatian was the starter in the visit to Athletic Bilbao (March 02), game in which the team allowed four goals. Then he was the starting goalie in the home loss with Real Madrid for the closing matchday. That was his best game making some key saves and receiving the love of the fans in what turned to be the last game on his career.
RCDLC.com rating: 6.0